CIGARETTE BUTTS would not normally be considered best nest-building material, but a couple of blue tits in Connemara have decided otherwise.
The pair have selected a freestanding public ashtray at Kylemore Abbey in Co Galway for their home, and four chicks have already hatched out.
The seven-egg family was discovered by staff at the abbey’s coffee shop. It is believed the birds moved into the nesting site shortly before Easter.
“It was a great surprise, particularly as the ashtray is located in one of the busiest areas between the cafe and craft shop at the estate and gardens,” Bríd Connell, Kylemore sales and marketing manager, said yesterday.
“They didn’t seem bothered by all this activity at all and have been very busy feeding their young. Just one of the seven eggs didn’t make it, we believe.”
The Kylemore staff put up notices requesting that visitors avoid using the ashtray. “We have lots of wildlife out here, but we’ve never seen anything quite like this,” Ms Connell said.
Senior conservation officer at Birdwatch Ireland Stephen Newton also believes it may be a first.
“Robins are known to find kettles and other weird and wonderful nesting places,” Mr Newton told The Irish Times.
“Tits tend to find a hole in a tree or in a stone wall, or in crevices in old buildings, and it tends to be a diameter that provides protection from larger birds,” he said.
“I suppose a freestanding ashtray probably looks like a nest box near ground,” he said. “In theory, I suppose, the cigarette butts could help keep eggs warm!”
Mr Newton has encountered many unusual nesting places for other species of bird. One of the most unusual, he recalled, was in Scotland, where a pair of black guillemots selected a porthole on a working ferry to make a home for their young.
“The fact that the nest would disappear while they were foraging – as in the vessel setting sail – didn’t seem to bother them. They got accustomed to the ferry timetable remarkably quickly, and never abandoned their young,” he said.
